GPS Tracking ROI

A few days ago I wrote about the problem of government … and commercial ones as well … pointing out just how many fleet operations are sucking the life out of companies and agencies without any aspect of control.  The huge spikes in fuel prices bring the problem to some people’s attention, but it isn’t the price of fuel that is the problem.  It is failure of basic management that is killing so much profit in today’s world.

Peter F. Drucker was famous for many sayings but perhaps none more important than, "You can not manage what you can’t measure."  For years I have beaten the drum about the advantages to business in measuring the performance of vehicles with GPS tracking systems.  Perhaps I started to far up the food chain.  Wouldn’t almost everyone who reads this agree with me that before you seriously consider measuring the performance of your fleet you might want to get a handle on how many vehicles are even in your fleet?

I highly recommend reading this article, one segment of which focuses on California’s attempt to get a handle on what they need to manage.  The title "Green Fleet" intended to convey an effort to make the state more environmentally responsible … certainly a worthy goal … but I submit it also refers to the "green" of operating expenses.  Learning how many vehicles you need to manage is worthwhile even if you never save a gallon of gas or a pound of CO2 emissions:

Green Fleet
California law requires state government agencies to cut energy consumption by 20 percent by 2015. The California Department of General Services (DGS) intends to meet the mandate by collecting information that gives the department new insight into state operations. That insight will be used boost efficiency and conserve resources, said Will Semmes, chief deputy director of the DGS.

For example, the department - which negotiates all statewide vehicle procurement contracts - is implementing fleet management changes that will provide better data about the use of state vehicles.

The 119 California agencies that own at least one state vehicle will upload fleet information into a centralized DGS database. The solution will offer the DGS an unprecedented breadth of information for calculating carbon emissions and other factors, said Semmes.

"If you multiply by 50,000 vehicles, we’re going to get information that we’ve never had before about the use of our fleet in different aspects: the actual disposition of the vehicle, whether it was used appropriately and whether it was used enough to warrant having that vehicle," Semmes said. "How are the emissions? How much fuel did we use? Are we buying the right fuel? Where did we buy it from, and therefore what kind of alternative fuel infrastructure can we get in those places where we seem to be buying the most?"

Semmes said the database will give the DGS a comprehensive view of all state vehicles, making it easier to see if unused vehicles could be shared among agencies. The project could potentially reduce the number of cars the state owns and maintains, thereby cutting costs and reducing consumption.  Full green fleet article here.

There you have it … the cat is out of the bag.  Even with the strictest emissions laws in the US, even with the "Gubernator" in charge of state affairs, even with the world’s largest concentration of technology companies on the face of the planet, the great state of California is only now, in mid-2008, deciding to actually count how many vehicles they operate and thus set the stage for making better use.  I am sure your state or your business is doing better, aren’t they?